UNLV TILT WAS HUGE, BUT GAME VS. LOBOS IS BIGGER

New Mexico visits Viejas with first place at stake

New Mexico at No. 13 Aztecs

Wednesday: 7:15 p.m. at Viejas Arena

On the air: 4SD, CBSSN; 600-AM, 95.7FM

San Diego State associate head coach Brian Dutcher spent last week in film sessions and meetings and practices devotedly to preparing for Saturday’s game at No. 14 UNLV. Then he went home each night and watched tape of New Mexico.

The UNLV game was big, certainly, matching the Nos. 13 and 14 teams in The Associated Press poll, pitting two increasingly contentious student sections, elevating one the West Coast’s most spirited rivalries to a new level. But in the larger picture, in the grand scheme of things, no game this season is bigger than Wednesday night at soldout Viejas Arena against unranked New Mexico.

At stake is a Mountain West regular-season banner, seeding in the conference tournament and, perhaps even more importantly, seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Said Coach Steve Fisher after Saturday’s 65-63 loss: “We have to make sure this doesn’t linger, that the loss stings and burns and hurts and is crushing for a moment, but that it doesn’t affect our preparation for Wednesday.”

Fisher calls Dutcher, his longtime assistant, among the best in the country at breaking down an opponent on film and formulating a game plan. Dutcher, then, was assigned the New Mexico scout.

SDSU, UNLV and New Mexico are all 6-2 in the Mountain West with six games remaining. SDSU (20-4) has the easiest schedule on paper, with the Lobos at home and no one with a winning conference record on the road. UNLV (22-4) plays at New Mexico on Saturday and also must go to Colorado State. New Mexico (20-4) has won five straight MW games but must play SDSU and UNLV this week having not defeated either in two-plus seasons.

“It’ll either keep us tied for first or put us one behind,” Fisher said of Wednesday’s 7 p.m. tipoff. “And it’s against a team that’s red-hot right now. And it’s at home, where you’re not supposed to lose. It’s a huge game.”

Mounting minutes

You could point to the 17 turnovers. Or the 6 of 11 performance at the free-throw line. Or UNLV’s 11-5 margin on the offensive glass, or its 13-3 margin in steals, or its 16-2 margin on fast-break points.

Perhaps the most overlooked number from Saturday, though, was 36. That was point guard Xavier Thames’ minutes, his most since late November.

Thames didn’t have a turnover in the first 39 minutes despite relentless pressure from a variety of UNLV guards and a cumbersome brace protecting his “tweaked” right knee, then had two miscues in the final 42 seconds. The logical question: Was fatigue a factor?

Fisher has said he wants to — has to — use his bench more to keep his regulars fresh late in games and late in the season, and accordingly he increased backup LaBradford Franklin’s minutes in recent weeks.

Franklin was averaging 13.5 minutes in the six previous games and had responded, with 10 assists against just five turnovers. Against UNLV, though, he no assists and three turnovers in just eight minutes.

Twitter drama

Shortly after the loss, Thames’ Twitter account was hit with several less than supportive messages referencing his late turnovers.

One said: Nice job blowing the game Xavier Thames.

Within minutes, UNLV guard Anthony Marshall had his back. “Bro keep grinding,” Marshall tweeted to Thames. “Don’t let people like this distract you.”

Marshall would know. A week earlier, Marshall missed a contested layup in the closing seconds of a 68-66 loss at Wyoming and was inundated with nasty tweets from frustrated fans before he had reached the locker room — one of which said: “Make a damn layup … you suck.”

Marshall calmly replied the same way to all of them: “Thank you.”

“I understand people react emotionally,” Marshall told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week. “I use it as motivation. If you put yourself out there among the marquee programs, you’ll be loved when you win, and the haters come out when you lose. It’s a gift and a curse.”